Tape feed device



Aug. 1932 G. PERRELLA 3,050,226

TAPE FEED DEVICE Filed Dec. 22, 1959 ll na E 8 uflilllillhihil llllllllll 1 l I i United States Patent Ofiice 3,050,226 Patented Aug. 21, 1962 3,050,226 TAPE FEED DEVICE Guido Perrella, 425 River St., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Dec. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 861,236 2 Claims. (Cl. 226-157) are placed thereon in unvarying relation to each other and to the tape. This is somewhat ditficult to accomplish and various mechanisms, usually of a mechanically complicated nature, have been proposed for the purpose.

It is an object of this invention to provide a tape feeding device which is of simple and inexpensive manufacture, which is positive and effective in operation, which does not require skilled adjustment on the part of the operator, which has few moving parts with consequently greatly reduced wear, and which has an extremely long operational life.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which FIGURE 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a device in accordance with the invention, and

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the device.

In the drawing, 1 indicates the fixed fastener forming frame member of a conventional machine and 2 the usual associate ram mounted for reciprocation in a perpendicular direction with respect thereto. The tape 3 is fed upwardly through member 1 and the fastener elements 4 are successively applied thereto as the tape moves past the cooperating fastener forming surfaces of the member 1 and ram 2, all in the usual manner. The conventional fastener forming and applying area of the machine is designated at In.

The device in accordance with the invention comprises a body member 5 fixed to the frame of the machine as by means of a mounting plate 6 and bolts 7. Journalled on a shaft 8, fixed in body 5, as by means of bearings 9, is a wheel or sleeve 10 having a knurled tape-engaging section 11 and a ratchet section 12. As shown in FIG- URE 1, the tape 3 is adapted to be looped over the knurled section 11 of the wheel 10 which guides the tape upwardly from the fastener forming area 1a of the machine.

It will be observed that the wheel imparts a 90 turn to the tape. The finished tape is fed from the wheel downwardly along a guiding slide 13.

Means for pressing the tape onto the knurled section 11 whereby on rotation of the wheel, movement will be imparted to the tape, comprises a pressure pad 14 having an arcuate tape engaging surface 15. The pad 14 is pivoted at 16 to one arm of a lever 17 pivotally mounted at 18 to body 5. The pad 14 is resiliently urged towards the tape and wheel by means of a spring 19 one end of which engages one side of an arm 20 of the lever. The spring is housed in a recess 21 in the body and the tension of the spring may be adjusted by means of a screw 22, a plate 23 being interposed between the adjacent end of the spring and the end of the screw. Means for releasing the pressure p-ad from clamping engagement with the tape (to permit looping of the tape about the section 11 of the wheel), comprises a cam 24 engaging the other side of arm 20 and carried by a pin 25 rotatably mounted in the body. A handle 26 fixed to the pin provides a means for imparting rotation thereto. The cam 24 has a flat surface 27 engageable with arm 20 to define the tape clamping position of the pressure pad and an arcuate surface 28 defining the tape releasing position thereof. The clamping position is such that, when the end of the tape is reached and no tape is present between the pad and section 11, the pad will be maintained in slight clearance with respect to section 11 whereby no damage will occur on the surfaces of the pad and the teeth of the knurled section. On rotation of the cam 24 by handle 26 in a clockwise direction (as shown in FIGURE 1), the pin 24 will move the surface 28 into engagement with arm 20 to move it against the action of the spring and swing the pad 14 outwardly from the wheel section 11 to permit convenient looping of the tape thereabout.

Means for imparting increments of rotative movement to the wheel 10 and corresponding increments of movement to the tape comprises the annular ratchet section 12 on the wheel and a cooperating pawl 29 pivoted at 30 to a bracket 31 fixed to ram 2 as by bolts 32. A spring 33 urges the pawl into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet 12. A wheel holding pawl 34 is pivoted at 35 to a bracket 36 fixed to body 5, a spring 37 urging the pawl into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet.

It will be understood that the reciprocal up and down strokes of the ram are relatively short and the distance between each pair of adjacent teeth of the ratchet 12 represents the length of each such stroke. Thus, a down- Ward stroke of the ram moves pawl 29 from engagement with one tooth to engagement with the next tooth of the ratchet which is held against rotation by holding pawl 34. The succeeding upward stroke of the ram moves the ratchet and wheel in a counterclockwise direction (as viewed in FIGURE 1) a fixed distance corresponding to the distance between a pair of teeth. Consequently, the tape is successively advanced past the fastener forming and applying area 1a in fixed increments of movement directly in response to movements of the fastener forming and applying ram 2.". I' I The structure describcd eliminates thehed for providing mechanism for driving the tape wheelfrom the main driving shaft of the machine. Such mechanism usually entails the provision of eccentrics, heavy pawls and the like associatedwith the main shaft. 7

Since the tape feed is directly related to the fastener forming and applying ram,-accurate' timing of the feed is positively maintained during operation. Moreover, no

adjustment of the feed is necessary.

Thetape wheel maybe 'of simple ring-shaped formation with the knurled and ratchet sections integrally formed thereon. Thus, it may be readily mounted on needle or like bearings, as shown, without use of a, shaft.

It is not necessary to provide a special brake (other than a simple holding pawl) for the tape wheel since there is a very small inertia present during rotative movement thereof. Consequently, the force involved in turning the wheel is reduced to a minimum. Thus, the actuating pawl may be very small and the wear thereon is negligible.

Wearing surfaces generally have also been reduced to a minimum since the wheel itself is substantially the only operating moving part. Moreover, as indicated above, since the actuating pawl applies only a very small force, wear on the ratchet is practically eliminated.

I claim:

1. A tape feed device comprising in combination with a reciprocating ram, a fixed body member, a wheel mounted in said body member for rotation on an axis fixed therewith and having an annular t-ape-engageable section and an annular ratchet, said section and said ratchet being fixed to each other for simultaneous rotation, a bracket fixed to said ram for reciprocation as a unit therewith, a pawl pivoted to said bracket and engaging said ratchet to rotate said wheel step by step in response to movement in one direction of said ram, a holding pawl mounted on said body member and engaging said ratchet to restrain movement of said wheel in response to reciprocation of said ram in the retrograde direction, tape holding means comprising a lever pivotally mounted on said body member, a pad pivotally mounted on said lever and having an arcuate tape-engageable surface conforming to a circumferential section of said tape-engageable section of said wheel, said tape-engageable surface having a tapeholding position wherein said tape-engageable surface is spaced a minor distance from said tape-engageable section and a tape-releasing position wherein said tape-engageable surface is spaced a major distance from said tape-engageable section, and manually controlled means carried by said body member and operable to pivot said lever to move said pad into either of said positions, said last-named means comprising an arm fixed to said lever for imparting swinging movement thereto to a selected one of said positions, a spring engaging said lever arm and urging said lever towards said tape-holding position, and a cam rotatably mounted in said body member and having a pair of cam surfaces selectively engaging said lever arm in response to rotation of said cam, said cam surfaces respectively determining said positions.

2. In a tape feeding mechanism fora machine for attaching fastener elements to a tape, a body member, a shaft having one end fixed in said body member, a sleeve having a knurled tape-engaging section and a ratchet section, both extending circumferentially about said sleeve in contiguous side-by-side relation, antifriction bearing means journaling said sleeve on said shaft for rotation about an axis fixed with said body member, a ram mounted for reciprocation adjacent said shaft normal to the axis thereof, a bracket fixed with said ram, 3. first pawl pivoted to said bracket on an axis parallel with said shaft, means yieldingly urging said first pawl into engagement with the teeth of said ratchet section to rotate said sleeve directly by and in response to one direction of reciprocation only of said ram, a second pawl pivoted on said body member and yieldingly urged into engagement with said ratchet section to prevent retrograde rotation thereof by said first pawl, a pressure pad having an 'arcuate surface conforming to a portion of the circumference of said knurled tape-engaging section, a lever mounted on said body member for pivoting about an axis parallel with said shaft, means mounting said pad on one end of said lever for pivoting about an axis parallel with said shaft in coplanar relation with said knurled tape-engaging section, and means carried by said body member and manually operable to pivot said lever to move said pad into and out of engagement with a tape passing about said knurled section, said last-named means comprising a pin journaled in said body member parallel with said shaft and having one end engaging the end of said lever remote from said pad, there being a flat on said one end of said pin, a handle fixed with and extending radially of said pin, and spring means carried by said body member and urging said lever into contact with said one end of said pm, said lever, when in contact with the flat on said pin, moving said pad into engagement with a tape passing about said knurled section under urge of said spring means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,023,883 Scott Apr. 23, 1912 1,167,764 Liebig Jan. 11, 1916 1,555,975 Hubbard Oct. 6, 1925 1,844,820 Morey Feb. 9, 1932 1,867,343 Wittek July 12, 1932 1,903,659 Smith Apr. 11, 1933 2,060,334 Moreno Nov. 10, 1936 2,153,214 Tondreau Apr. 4, 1939 2,185,769 Kiessling Jan. 2, 1940 2,451,833 Koch Oct. 19, 1948 2,478,880 Voity Aug. 9, 1949 2,564,886 'Epple et al. Aug. 21, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 433,203 Italy Apr. 3, 1948 1,006,108 France Jan. 16, 1952 

